TAUNTON — Aerial spraying of larvicide is scheduled to take place in Raynham and Easton on Friday, said the Bristol County Mosquito Control Project.

The Taunton-based Bristol County Mosquito Control Project is planning to spray five barrels, or $40,000 worth, of a bacteria-based pesticide from a plane down onto swamps in Raynham and Easton, to target mosquitoes in their larvae form, said the agency’s director, Jennifer Dacey. The larvicide, known as Bti, or bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, is being applied to the Hockomock Swamp, the Pine Swamp and the Dead Swamp, Dacey said.

“We are trying to larvicide it and attack the immature mosquito before they are able to hatch off into adults,” Dacey said. “The larvicide goes into the water of the swamp area and the mosquitoes have to ingest it, and when they do that it kills them in the immature stage. It’ll be good that we get it done.”

Dacey said this will be the second year in a row that the larvicide is used in Raynham by the Bristol County Mosquito Control Project. Dacey said her agency teamed up to do the spraying with the Plymouth Mosquito Control Project, which owns an airplane being used for the job, making the operation financially possible.

Dacey said the mosquito control projects have approval from the state to do the larvicide spraying. None of the spraying takes place in residential areas, she said.

If the weather is poor on Friday, the spraying will be delayed to Monday or Tuesday, Dacey said.

The goal, Dacey said, is to help reduce the public health risk of eastern equine encephalitis, which has been a major cause for concern among elected officials in Raynham, where town resident Martin Newfield died in 2011 after contracting the virus. In the wake of his death, residents and elected officials put pressure on the state to revisit its arbovirus surveillance plan, which was later revised to enhance the decision making process for state approval widespread spraying of insecticides to kill adult mosquitoes.

The Bristol County Mosquito Control Project, a state program with a $1,290,550 budget this year, also hopes to complete another round of larvicide spraying at the end of June.

“We are trying to knock down a lot of the population before they become adults,” Dacey said. “The Hockomock Swamp and Pine and Dead swamp are red maple and white cedar swamps. That’s the primary place where the vector for EEE is.”

Dacey said the mosquito group will also spray larvicide on the ground where needed. It is taking requests from communities and residents to do ground spraying on May 19. For more information, email RequestBristolMCP@comcast.net, call 508-823-5253 or go to www.bristolcountymosquitocontrol.com.